Cable joint



Sept 1927' D. M. SIMONS CABLE JOINT Filed Aug. 5, 1925 2 Shets-Sheet 1nwe/vrae WITNESSES 77L. Swims D. M. SIMONS CABLE JOINT Filed Aug. 5.1925 2 Sheets5heet 2 F'IELIII.

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Patented Sept-13, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DONALD M. SIMONS, OF OSBORNE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD UNDER-GROUND GABLE COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OFPENNSYLVANIA.

Application filed August 5, 1925.

My invention relates to improvements in cable joints. In an applicationfor Letters Patent of the United States, filed November 19,1924, SerialNo. 750,740, I have described the building of an extension of thesurface of an electrode, such as to givegreater security againstbreak-down of insulation. Circumstantially, I described that inventionin application to a cable-joint, and showed a joint in which my presentinvention also is embodied. In other prior and still pendingapplications, Serial No. 738,424, filed September 18, 1924, and SerialNo. 743,645, filed October 15, 1924, I describe more specificapplications to joint building of the invention of the first-mentionedapplication. In this application I seek protection of the jointstructure, as such.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Fig. I is aview in medial and longitudinal section of a cable joint, having myinvention embodied in it. Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic view in plan, of aWeb of material employed in building the joint of Fig. I, and it is soplaced relatively to Fig. I as to indicate how application is made. Fig.III is a view, corresponding to Figs. I andlI, showing a cable joint inthe building of which my invention is employed in somewhat reaterelaboration.

In Fig. I, show two cable ends, from which the sheaths 1 have been cutaway, exposing the envelopes 2 of machine-laid insulation, and fromwhich the envelopes of insulation in turn have been cut away,'exposingthe conductors 3. The conductors are electrically united, as by thesweated-on sleeve 4 of metal, and the problem is properly and adequatelyto insulate this union within the joint casing 5.

In Fig. I the machine-laid insulation of the cable to be united is cutaway in opposite successions of steps. The conducting sleeve 4 and theadjacent reaches of bare cable are suitably enveloped in insulation tothe level of the first step of machine-laid insulation, and upon thecontinuous surface so afi'orded I wrap insulation.

My invention consists in providing a web of insulating material of suchwidth as to extend across the interval, from edge to edge of thecut-away bodies of insulation 2,

CABLE JOINT. I

Serial No. 48,301.

and of proper length, whether in a single piece or in a succession ofpieces; and in applying the web in a single Wrap, filling all the spacebetween the cut ends, and restoring throughout the interval the originaldiameter of the insulated conductor.

Preferably I provide a web which shall immediately envelope theconducting sleeve 4 and the adjacent reaches of otherwise bare conductorand shall in continuous wrap fill all the interval between the steppedends of the two bodies 2 of machine-laid insulation. The structure issufficiently shown in Fig. II, and its position relatively to thestructure of Fig. I will indicate how the web is shaped and applied. Theweb 6 is stepped along its edges according to the stepped conformationto which it is to be applied. At its narrow end it is of precisely thewidth to fit between the innermost or lowest steps of the two bodies 2of insulation. At its narrow end it may be cut away, as at 7, to makeprovision for the filling in of the spacesbetween the sleeve 4 and theadj acenl innermost steps of the bodies 2. The Web is of such length andthe steps to which it is shaped are individually of such length as tofill the interval between each opposite pair of steps in the bodies 2,pair after pair, as wrapping progresses. And by wrapping in the mannerindicated I produce a body 8 of insulation, of the character indicated,

importance, particularly in high-tension installations. In addition tothat my invention admits of ex edition in making installations in thefield In a companion application in which I am joint applicant withFrank D. Barbour apparatus is described and claimed for applying to acable joint the web of my pres ent invention, and with such apparatusparfilling all the interval between the cut-away ticularly, the web maybe applied in a very short space of time, and with the greatestprecision and closeness of fit of wrap.

The web will ordinarily be of paper. It may be formed of equivalentmaterial, muslin, for instance. It will ordinarily be already filledwith a suitable insulating compound, such as oil or varnish.

Such a web may be of a maximum width of thirty inches, say-I give onlyexemplary figures: I am not meaning to limit myself to particulardimensions. The wrap itself when applied may be one inch deep. And, toachieve this, the initial web may be a hundred feet long. The advantageof handling by machinery such a web of material, will be apparent.

The machine may be provided with knives which from a roll of maximumWidth cuts the web accurately to size as application is about to bemade. This feature is fully exlained in the specification of the compan-1011 application.

I have already intimated that while the web of material may be integralfrom end to end, it may on the other hand be made up of a succession oflengths, and it will be understood that, while the web may so bediscontinuous in length, the components will still be applied insuccession and being ap lied will extend in a single convolution,throughout the so built up body of insulation.

When the web has been applied and the interval between the bodies 2 ofinsulation has so been filled the joint may otherwise be completed asdesired. The whole is enclosed in the usual casing 5, secured at itsends to the cable sheath. At any suitable time before completion or oncompletion, the joint structure may be flushed and filled withinsulating compound, and the wrappedon body of insulation may be soflushed whether or not the web of material ha before application beenfilled with such material.

The web 6 of applied insulation may as is explained in the first of theapplications mentioned above be the carrier of a metal strip, to achievethe ends there described.

In F ig. III I show a cable joint in which the spaces between thecut-away ends of the machine-laid insulation are filled, precisely as inthe joint illustrated in Fig. I. Of the joint of Fig. I I said thatexternally ofthe wrapped-0n body 8 of insulation, applied as described,the spaces within the joint casing might be filled in any desiredmanner. In Fig. III I show that these external spaces may be filled by acontinuation of the wrap,

and it is apparent that the prolonged web will in this case be of suchwidth and of such marginal shape as to produce in a continuing wrap theadded body of insulation 9. Furthermore, the edges of this extension ofthe web ma carry metal strips, to afford, when the web as been applied,electrical extensions 10 of the cut-away ends of the cable sheath, thuseffecting the purposes set forth in applications, Serial Nos. 738,424and 743,- 645, alluded to above. The edges of the webs will be steppedto still greater width, to form the innermost turns of body 9, and

from that point the width of the web may diminish, to achieve theparticular shape which in Fig. V the body 9 is shown to possess. Furtherdescription is deemed unnecessary.

I claim as my invention:

In a cable joint two cable ends with their envelopes of ,machine-laidinsulation cut away in a succession of opposite and receding steps,their conductors united, and the union surrounded and the intervalbetween the bodies of machine-laid insulation filled with a wrapped-onweb of sheet insulation of the full width of the interval and laid in asingle wrap.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

DONALD M. SIMONS.

